Take Five
I wished it had been the Brubeck-Desmond "Take Five" perennial jazz favorite instead.
What I thought was a simple on-line service activation of a previous free but un-used service of 500 MB Yahoo storage space, it turned into a 2-hour tech service "issue" discussion.
What I called a problem, SBC-Yahoo tech support liked to call in an "issue." A rampant use of junk English like most everyone else do these days. There are no longer "problems" out there but "issues". Problems require resolution. Issues, on the other hand, can be discussed and debated until the cows come home without having to say the "p" word.
I have written an article/book review on junk English usage a few years ago. Junk English usage is the strangling fig of the English language. But I digress.
The error message I got when trying to activate the 500 MB storage space:
Yahoo! was not able to process your order for a new special offer (12:cancelcoupon:cancel coupon : operation not allowed - contact customer service). Please contact a Customer Service Representative.
Chronology of today's SBC-Yahoo "issue" tech supprt:
Contact of the First Kind: On-Line Tech Support, Melissa.
Chatted for about 15-minutes on a slow and poorly designed Cisco message board and replicated the error message. I was referred to Premium Services with a case number and a telephone number 1-877-469-7847.
Contact of the Second Kind: Premium Services, Joseph.
I described the problem, my personal data, and recited the case number to Joseph. No help here with my issue. Referred to Billing Services. Billing Services? Yes. Press menu option 2, then 1, then, 2, then 5, will get you transferred to the right support staff. Please don't hang up. In case of disconnection, call (408)349-5151. (Whatever.)
Contact of the Third Kind: Web Hosting Billing Services, Anna.
(This billing person has no foreign accent. Maybe it had to do with money. Money talk should not be hard to understand.)
I described the problem, my personal data, and recited the case number to Anna. Sorry, this is Web Hosting Billing. You need to talk with DSL billing. Please stay on the line and don't hang up. I will transfer you. (Whatever.)
Contact of the Fourth Kind: DSL Support, Dave.
No menu option sequence to press. Got a real person. Dave. (Dave had a slight accent.) I described the problem, my personal data, and recited the case number to Dave. He was very helpful. Dave stayed with me the longest time. I gave him my account password. He successfully replicated my issue. Now it finally became a worthy issue and a challenge to Dave and his issue solving skill. (It made his day.) He recorded the discussions I had had with his peers. (Whatever.)
Please don't hang up and I will transfer you to Tier Two tech support. (Tier Two?) (Dave liked to say 'please don't hang up' many many times. Whatever.)
Total time spent from Chat to Tier One Tech Support Dave abut: 1 hour 40 minutes.
Contact of the Fifth Kind: Tier Two, Hawk.
(Hawk spoke with the heaviest accent than the previous tech support people.)
You got my case number, Hawk? Yes. And give me your name, account, and telephone number. (Again?) Yes, please. Tell me your password and let me log in as you. (I had to repeat the password alphabet by alphabet - three times. Hawk had a hard time with the spelling of my password.)
Stay on the line, please. This may take 3-4 minutes. I will talk to the engineers (software guys) to see if they want to accept the case. (Huh? Could you not at least say this was really a problem with SBC-Yahoo?). OK. (Whatever.)
The engineers said they will accept the case. They replicated the error. You have been assigned an Escalation Support Number. (Wow! An Escalation Support Number. I am on Level 2.) It's the Yahoo web service (Lucky me. The high priests of Yahoo accepted my petition.) Don't try to activate the account until 72 hours later on Tuesday. (Tuesday???)
Whatever. It took two hours on a simple on-line service matter. Half of this morning was spent on this issue, (strike that), problem, on the first day of my 4-day weekend.
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5 comments:
hahaha... L'envoi, a simple issue is enough to drive you crazy! cheer up! ^.~
Ahem! It was a problem not an issue. LOL.
Now, don't you go about and talking about "issues." I think I have created a Snoopy-Frankenstein. Yikes!
thank you for correcting me, my respective sir! hahaha... ^^
hmm... what's Frankenstein about? study or analysis? i'm sure that you won't interest on it..
Click here to learn more about Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein.
Surely, you must have read or heard of Mrs. Shelley's famous horror novel. In traditional Chinese, her surname and this particular novel are translated as: 雪萊的(科學怪人)或(作法自斃的人,法蘭肯斯坦).
When Shelley's Dr. Frankenstein created the hedious "monster", this created being came into his own. The scientist could not excercise control over his creation.
When a person used the English idom "I created a Frankenstein..." he was alluding to Shelley's creature and referring to himself (the originator or creator) not having control over another's (the learner)action after having the latter had learned certain things from the former, himself, the creator/originator.
In my case, I expounded on the difference between the usage of the words "problem" and "issue". You, as the learner, picked up the word "issue" and used it back on me. I had no control on how you would or should apply this word. That's why I said in a whimsical exaggeration, "I have created a "Snoopy-Frankenstein".
"科學怪人", yes, i watched it from the cartoon tv.. well, only remember the horrible face but nothing.. hehee...
L'envoi, you've already given me lot of things to learn, there's no more capacity for me to learn something new... don't create too many issues for me, ok? kekeke.. :)
i've read the info given by you (roughly).. ^^
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